Observatory Design in the Mountain West: Scaling Measurements and Modeling in the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada

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0610112BalesThis project addresses infrastructure needs to improve the knowledge base for hydrologic management in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and San Joaquin Valley, and it represents an important step toward developing an environmental observatory for mountain-semi-arid valley landscapes of the far western United States. The project has two major goals: (1) formulate basin-scale measurement and modeling strategies to enable research on priority issues by analyzing existing data and (2) assess instrument cluster designs needed to provide ground-based measurements for research on hydrologic processes in the regional system. The ambitious two-year plan will be carried out by an interdisciplinary ten-person team. The project addresses the important problem of water availability in an environment where climate change is expected to significantly shift the seasonal timing and rates of hydrologic processes. The broader impacts plan of the project includes three elements: dissemination, global education, and integration of under-represented groups, and the plan is characterized by integration of outreach and education activities with the research efforts. The project brings several California universities together in a partnership that has the potential for developing highly useful infrastructure for scientists and the larger community. This project is one of the suite of test-bed projects to develop enabling technologies for the WATERS Network, a distributed environmental observatory initiative of NSF.